1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to novel silica particulates, and, more especially, to novel precipitated silica particulates having a controlled porosity, as well as to a process for the production thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Silica is known to this art to be useful for certain applications because of its porosity characteristics, in particular for catalysis, inks and paper, in the food industry, etc.
In catalysis, the silica is used as a catalytic support, or as a porous layer coated or impregnated on monolithic supports.
Due to its optical whiteness and opacity, silica is used as an inorganic charge in papers, particularly those used for newspapers, as a coating material for coated papers and also specialty papers. When silica is used in paper, a greater porosity is required in order to facilitate ink absorption.
More particularly in the field of animal feeds, silica is used as a result of its absorption properties as a feed support, particularly as a support for methionine, vitamins, particularly vitamins A and E, for sucroglycerides, etc.
Thus, for these and numerous other applications, it is necessary for the silica to have certain morphological characteristics, including particular porosity.